The reappointment of Jean Castex at the head of RATP validated by parliamentarians

The deputies approved this appointment proposed by Emmanuel Macron on June 3 by 30 votes to six and nine abstentions, a week after an identical vote by the Committee on Territorial Planning and Sustainable Development of the Senate.

Former Prime Minister Jean Castex, aged 59, took the reins of RATP in November 2022 following the resignation of the company’s previous CEO, Catherine Guillouard, who left for personal reasons, in a difficult context for the company. public company. Faced with a shortage of bus drivers, strikes linked to the opening to competition and high absenteeism, the RATP was unable to run a quarter of the buses and 10% of the metros.

Many more modern metros awaiting delivery

After gradually restoring the quality of service through massive recruitment campaigns, the company successfully navigated the Olympic Games, transporting spectators to the competition sites without any problems. “During these almost two years at the head of RATP, I have been, and I continue to be, very happy,” underlined Jean Castex in the preamble to his hearing on Wednesday at the Assembly.

The transport network operated by RATP is in an “in-between which is not easy to manage”, he recalled, emphasizing the numerous modernization projects underway. We will have to “do a lot of education with our users” in the years to come, insisted Jean Castex. He also wants to integrate them more into the group’s governance.

“Our fellow citizens are finding it increasingly difficult to travel by car, while the development and modernization of public transport (…) is not yet completely complete,” insisted the CEO of RATP. Many more modern metros still need to be delivered to renew aging equipment and lines 15, 16, 17 and 18 of the Grand Paris Express will gradually open by 2030, doubling “the length of the historic metro”. Jean Castex has set several priorities for his new mandate, in addition to the success of the “investment and modernization project”: combating the problem of abandoned packages and the “hunt for abuse” linked to absenteeism in the company .